Fabric washing machines



Sept. 14, 1965 D. E. P. NORTON 3,205,535

FABRIC WASHING MACHINES Filed April 3, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FABRIC WASHING MACHINES Filed April 3, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F IG 4 United States Patent 3,205,686 FABRIC WASHING MACHINES David E. 1. Norton, Over Alderley, Cheshire, England, assignor to Sir James Farmer Norton & Co. Limited, Salford, England, a British company Filed Apr. 3, 1963, Ser. No. 270,209 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 4, 1962, 12,906/ 62 Claims. (Cl. 68-38) This invention relates to machines for washing fabrics or webs in the open-width.

Heretofore water sprays have been used in machines for Washing fabrics, such sprays acting on the fabrics or serving to assist the passage of the fabrics through water.

An object of the present invention is to provide simple and convenient means for increasing the efliciency of such spray washing machines.

According to the present invention, there is provided a machine for washing fabric in the open width, in which the fabric is passed between a series of liquid sprays and a corrugated plate arranged so that the sprays press the fabric against the plate, the orifices through which the sprays issue being so shaped as to cause the sprays to acquire a fan-like shape. The effect of the sprays pressing the fabric against the corrugated plate is to cause the fabric to flex as it passes over each corrugation, thus loosening the foreign matter entrained between the fibres of the fabric and enabling the sprays to remove it more readily. The fact that the plate is corrugated appreciably reduces the surface tension which would otherwise impose a resistance to the passage of the fabric.

Holes may be provided in the corrugated plate enabling circulation of water to ensure that there is always a film of water between the cloth and the plate, thus providing a further reduction in the surface tension.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, with reference by way of example, to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view of the inside of a washing machine in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of a spray nozzle,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View of a portion of a corrugated plate, and

FIGURE 4 is a view from the corrugated plate towards the spray nozzles to show the staggered relationship thereof.

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is shown a washing tank 1 through which a web of cloth 2 is guided by rollers 3. Positioned in the tank 1 are corrugated plates 4 over which the cloth 2 passes and on the side of the cloth 2 remote from each plate 4 there are arranged a plurality of horizontal pipes 5 joined by a manifold (not shown) to a source of Water under pressure. Each pipe 5 has spaced along its length a number of spray nozzles 6 of such shape and arrangement that the issuing spray is fan-like. It is found that if the sprays issue through simple small round holes in the spray pipes the jets of wash liquor are so concentrated on small areas of the web that damage to the surface of the web and displacement of the warp and weft threads resulted, even when the pressure applied to the inside of the pipes was reduced. This is overcome in the present invention by using slots or square or rectangular holes in the spray pipes, which cause the sprays to assume a fan-like shape, thus spreading the wash liquor more uniformly over the face of the web 2. The slots can be formed either by machining the desired profile in the wall of the pipe or,

ice

as shown in FIGURE 2, by plates 7 having holes 8 of the desired shape secured to the pipe 5 by a detachable cap 9. It is not essential for the spray pipes to be parallel so long as the distribution of sprays is substantially uniform over the area of the web exposed. To assist in the uniform washing effect, the nozzles 6 on adjacent pipes 5 are preferably staggered with respect to one another, as shown in FIGURE 4.

The corrugations on the plates 4 can be of any convenient size or depth provided that the pitch between each corrugation does not exceed the distance between adjacent pipes.

As already mentioned the plates 4 may be provided with holes 10, as shown in FIGURE 3, to reduce surface tension drag on the cloth 2.

The washing effect is increased and the tension in the cloth reduced if the water level 11 in the tank 1 is below that of the bottom spray pipe, as shown in FIGURE 1. It is possible to arrange several banks of sprays in one tank.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for washing a continuous web of fabric in the open width, in which the fabric is passed between a series of liquid sprays and a corrugated plate arranged so that the sprays press the fabric against the plate so as to cause the fabric to flex as it passes over each corrugation, the orifices through which the sprays issue being so shaped as to cause the sprays to acquire a fan-like shape.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein spray nozzles are so arranged that the distribution of spray is substantially uniform over the area of fabric being washed at any instant.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spray nozzles are staggered so that adjacent nozzles are not in lines parallel to the path of the fabric over the corrugated plate.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the corrugated plate is provided with holes therethrough to permit passage of water.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the corrugated plate and associated series of sprays is arranged so that the fabric passes vertically therebetween, the watelr level in the machine being below the lowest spray nozz e.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 129,913 7/72 Wentworth 68230 138,140 4/73 Elsey 68-230 547,284 lO/ Peterson 68-223 795,203 7/05 DeVito 68223 801,871 10/05 Herminghaus 68-205 1,635,245 7/27 Brandli 68-205 2,433,796 12/47 Ternes 68205 X 2,726,134 12/55 Hicks 68- 205 X 2,779,183 1/57 Fornelli 68175 2,974,394 3/61 Walton 68--205 X 3,015,945 1/62 Jungbecker 68198 3,058,332 10/62 Hofimann 68-181 3,066,521 12/62 Gillessen 68--148 X FOREIGN PATENTS 637,251 10/ 3 6 Germany. 351,252 2/ 61 Switzerland.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A MACHINE FOR WASHING A CONTINUOUS WEB OF FABRIC IN THE OPEN WIDTH, IN WHICH THE FABRIC IS PASSED BETWEEN A SERIES OF LIQUID SPRAYS AND A CORRUGATED PLATE ARRANGED SO THAT THE SPRAYS PRESS THE FABRIC AGAINST THE PLATE SO AS TO CAUSE THE FABRIC TO FLEX AS IT PASSES OVER EACH CORRUGATION, THE ORIFICES THROUGH WHICH THE SPRAYS ISSUE BEING SO SHAPED AS TO CAUSE THE SPRAYS TO ACQUIRE A FAN-LIKE SHAPE. 